The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today / Edition 2

by Kevin Bales, Ron Soodalter

Overview

In this riveting book, authors and authorities on modern slavery Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter expose the disturbing phenomenon of human trafficking and slavery that exists now in the United States. In The Slave Next Door we find that these horrific human rights violations are all around us; people sold into slavery are often hidden in plain sight: the dishwasher in the kitchen of the neighborhood restaurant, the kids on the corner selling cheap trinkets, the man sweeping the floor of the local department store. In these pages we also meet some unexpected modern-day slave owners, such as a 27-year old middle-class Texas housewife who is currently serving a life sentence for offences including slavery. Weaving together a wealth of voices—from slaves, slaveholders, and traffickers as well as from experts, counselors, law enforcement officers, rescue and support groups, and community leaders—this book is also a call to action, telling what we, as private citizens and political activists, can do to raise community awareness, hold politicians accountable, and finally bring an end to this horrific and traumatic crime. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520268661
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/23/2010
Edition description:	Second Edition, With a New Preface
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kevin Bales is the author of Ending Slavery and Disposable People, both from UC Press. He is also Co-Founder of Free the Slaves, Washington DC, and Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the WIlberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull. He is the world's leading expert on contemporary slavery.
Ron Soodalter, historian, folklorist, and lecturer, is the author of Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader, as well as articles on the historic and modern slave trade, the Civil War, and the American West. A respected Lincolnian scholar, he serves on the Board of the Abraham Lincoln Institute.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgments

PART I: SLAVES IN THE LAND OF THE FREE
1. The Old Slavery and the New
2. House Slaves
3. Slaves in the Pastures of Plenty
4. Supply and Demand
5. New Business Models
6. Eating, Wearing, Walking, and Talking Slavery

PART II: THE FINAL EMANCIPATION
7. Slaves in the Neighborhood
8. States of Confusion
9. The Feds
10. A Future without Slavery

Appendix: For Further Information
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An informative call to action . . . a humane and helpful primer on how to sever the links that create and hide human bondage."—Publishers Weekly

"Anyone wanting a better understanding of the ongoing problem of slavery in the United States—and their own role in perpetuating or eradicating it—should read this book."—California Lawyer

"Essential reading for anyone interested in human rights. . . . [The authors] appeal to the reader's sense of justice and compassion."—Foreign Policy
In Focus

"If you read one book on human trafficking this year, make it The Slave Next Door. . . . Digestible, enjoyable, and ultimately uplifting."—Change.org

"With the help of this great book . . . we can shift from ignoring this crude reality to [eradicating] this abominable practice."—African Politics Portal

Editorial Reviews

"With the help of this great book . . . we can shift from ignoring this crude reality to doing something to eradicate this abominable practice."

African Politics Portal

An arresting volume.

History Wire

"The authors of this text strongly urge action in recognizing the slavery next door, in our block, city, or country and take action to terminate it. They give means to accomplish the goal. It is, indeed, the duty of every American to read this book and burn with anger over man's inhumanity to man." 

Journal of American Culture

"Essential reading for anyone interested in human rights. . . . [The authors] appeal to the reader's sense of justice and compassion."

Foreign Policy in Focus

Anyone wanting a better understanding of the ongoing problem of slavery in the United States—and their own role in perpetuating or eradicating it—should read this book.

California Lawyer

"If you read one book on human trafficking this year, make it The Slave Next Door. . . . Digestible, enjoyable, and ultimately uplifting."

Change.org

"Essential reading for anyone interested in human rights. . . . [The authors] appeal to the reader's sense of justice and compassion."

Foreign Policy In Focus - Tiffany Williams

“Anyone wanting a better understanding of the ongoing problem of slavery in the United States—and their own role in perpetuating or eradicating it—should read this book.

California Lawyer - Charles Song

“Will likely change the way you understand your community.

Friends Journal - Deborah Fink

Although most people imagine widespread enslavement only in the historical past, human trafficking continues to exist today in myriad forms around the world. In this informative call to action, Bales (Disposable People), sociologist and president of Free the Slaves, and Soodalter (Hanging Captain Gordon), a historian, document routine coercive slave labor in domestic service, prostitution, farm labor, factories, light industry, prisons and mining operations. While many sensational cases have been well publicized, the authors demonstrate that slavery exists in mundane and unexpected forms. Their case studies begin in an American suburb and traverse the globe to urban China and rural Ghana, returning to Los Angeles, Calif., and East Orange, N.J., just a few of 100-plus documented cases in the U.S. The second half of the book focuses on causes and solutions, with a helpful emphasis on how ordinary individuals can recognize and report coercive situations, creating a humane and helpful primer on how to sever the links that create and hide human bondage. (July)

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Publishers Weekly